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Blogs

Tom and Louise on Tour in North America
 

Rolling On!

A month ago we had the close call with fire (see my previous post, Good News, Bad News) in Lander, WY. Leaving Lander we made a dash for California. A night here, two nights there, and next thing you know we are in Valley Springs, CA. Our son-in-law and his father installed a 50A hookup for us on their home so now we can park next to their driveway. What about the lawn you ask? In this part of California, rock and gravel are a natural ground surface and we found the parking spot just made f
tbutler

tbutler

3
Roadtreking Blog
 

The RVer's Biggest Danger: Carbon Monoxide Poisoning

It has happened again. This time in Alabama at a campground near the Talladega Speedway. Craig Franklin Morgan, 46, of Murfreesboro, Tenn., died from carbon monoxide poisoning. Morgan and his wife, Jami Allison Morgan, 38, were discovered unresponsive by friends who went into their RV at the South Campground outside the track. Jami Morgan was unconscious and was airlifted to a nearby Hospital, where she remained in critical condition and unconscious Monday morning. Police said the carbon monox
Roadtrekingmike

Roadtrekingmike

1
Roadtreking Blog
 

Dancing the Weekend Away on Mackinac Island: Where your RV Can’t Go

RVers aren’t the only ones winding down the season this time of year. So is Mackinac Island, the summer resort island located in the Straits of Mackinac at the tip of the Michigan mitt, right where Lake Michigan meets Lake Huron. Next weekend, the place shuts down until spring, with only a single hotel, restaurant and bar left open to serve the several hundred full-time residents and the workmen who come in during the winter to renovate, repair and restore the hotels and shops. Many shops were
Roadtrekingmike

Roadtrekingmike

0
Everywhere America
 

Ready or not.....

We are going to set sail Friday, October 25th. Ready or not, here we go. Michelle thinks I am goofy because I refer to everything on America in nautical terms. The other day she asked me where something was and I told her it was on the starboard side of the bus near the galley. She just looked at me for a minute or two before moving on wordlessly. I know sometimes she looks at the choices she has made in her love life and just thinks quietly "Why?" I say ready or not because although we put
Jaimepoulin1

Jaimepoulin1

4
GrampaDennis' Blog
 

Maine Wheels October 2013 Rally

In early September, we got a "Welcome to FMCA" letter from the Maine Wheels chapter, inviting us to join the chapter and to attend their rallies. They meet once a month,from May through October. We had another commitment on the weekend of the September meet, so we decided to join and attend the October rally. The Maine Wheels met at the Pumpkin Patch RV Resort in Hermon, Maine (near Bangor) on October 11-14. We drove there on Friday evening. This is the first time I have set up the motorhome on
GrampaDennis

GrampaDennis

0
Roadtreking Blog
 

RV Boondocking and Elk Watching in the Pigeon River State Forest

Now this is boondocking. We drove 11 miles off the Interstate, down a forest road lined by brilliant yellows and red birches and oaks. Then we turned off that and went a mile and a half off down a washboard two-track, pulling into a state forest campground on a little circular lake aptly named Round Lake. We haven’t seen another car in miles. Its pouring rain. The heater is keeping out the 44-degree weather and we are toasty comfy in our Roadtrek eTrek, watching Game 4 of the American League Pl
Roadtrekingmike

Roadtrekingmike

0
GrampaDennis' Blog
 

Should I have driven this thing up here?

Before our fall foliage trip, Grandma had heard from friends about a road to scenic lookout near Rangeley. She had heard it was a gravel road, but in good condition, and that the view was spectacular. She said it was "Quinn Road on Route 17." Well, Grandma is a bit dyslexic sometimes. It turned out to be Quill Hill and it was on Route 16, between Rangeley and Stratton. When we found the sign, the gravel road off Route 16 looked a little steep, but was well graded. I decided to try it. It
GrampaDennis

GrampaDennis

4
Travels with the FMCA Prez
 

More Rain

We left Cincinnati and it rained on us to Berlin, Ohio. It rained Saturday, and when we left on Sunday it was still raining. We arrived in York, Pa., to cloudy skies but no rain. We got settled in and visited a few people. After dinner on Sunday night, while returning to our motorhome we ran into the Yankee Travelers we had met at Scusset Beach, MA. It was like an old homecoming -- lots of hugs and "I've missed you." It was so good to see them again. It rained on Monday and again on Wednesd
AmerEagle07

AmerEagle07

0
GrampaDennis' Blog
 

A Maine Foliage Trip

On September 28th and 29th, Grandma and I took a weekend trip to some very scenic places not far from our home. After watching our grandson's Saturday morning soccer game, we headed up Route 17, which passes through our town, and continued to its end in Oquossoc. From there, we took Route 16, through Rangeley, to Stratton. From Stratton, we headed north up Route 27 to Eustis, where we stayed overnight at Cathedral Pines CG. On Sunday, we followed Route 27 south through Bigelow and Carabasset to
GrampaDennis

GrampaDennis

0
Roadtreking Blog
 

As the RVing Days Dwindle Down

The temperature outside my Roadtrek in the driveway of our Michigan home was 34 degrees this morning. That’s the coldest yet this season and a reminder that soon, there will be no putting off the fact that it needs to be winterized. We still have a couple of long weekend trips planned and I am hoping that I can do them without pushing antifreeze down all the pipes. It’s funny, really, because even when the RV is winterized, there’s no reason I can’t use it. You just carry drinking water and us
Roadtrekingmike

Roadtrekingmike

1
Roadtreking Blog
 

Crossing the Mackinac Bridge in an RV

Spanning the two Michigan peninsulas is the Mackinac Bridge, the longest suspension bridge in the western hemisphere. It is always a highlight of our trips to the Upper Peninsula. When you say “Big Mac” to a Michigander, the bridge is what they think of, not the hamburger. Counting the approaches, the bridge is five miles long. What makes it so interesting is the very nature of its construction. A suspension bridge is designed to move to accommodate wind. And high above the Straits of Mack
Roadtrekingmike

Roadtrekingmike

0
GrampaDennis' Blog
 

Prince Edward Island Trip - Part 2

On the way to PEI, we had taken a northerly route from Moncton, via Rotue 15 by Shediac. To see something different, we decided to take the southern route by Sackville. Grandma was navigating and she suggested we take Route 106 through Dieppe and Moncton, thinking it would save some distance, compared to TransCanada Route 2 around the north side of Moncton. It may have saved us distance, but I don't believe it saved any time, as it led right through the heart of the city. As we were coming to t
GrampaDennis

GrampaDennis

0
GrampaDennis' Blog
 

Prince Edward Island Trip - Part 1

During the week after Labor Day, we took a trip to Prince Edward Island, Canada. It was the longest trip with our "Cottage on Wheels" so far. As I'm typing the story, it's getting a bit long, so I am breaking it into two parts. The attached album includes a few of the many photos I took. We left home on a Friday evening, after I got done work. We stopped at a Wal-Mart in Newport where we hosted a visit by friends. As they left, our friends pointed out a slack tire. I had just checked the pres
GrampaDennis

GrampaDennis

0
GrampaDennis' Blog
 

Watch out overhead!

One of our early expeditions involved working on a family project. Our son is building a house in Bow, NH, and had rented a house near the Merrimack River in Hookset, NH, to live in while building. Grandma and I took the MH to New Hampshire so she could live in it for two weeks while painting interior rooms in our son's new house. Because I still work about 3/4 time, I traveled to the New Hampshire project on weekends. It was dark when we arrived in Hookset. I knew that there were overhangi
GrampaDennis

GrampaDennis

0
GrampaDennis' Blog
 

Not an Off-Road Vehicle!

My sister and one of my uncles both have properties on Ripley Pond in Maine. In past years, I have taken our camper trailers in to my sister's place. However, our MH is a good bit taller and I was concerned mainly about the overhanging trees. My uncle's place isn't so far in. We did some reconnaisance and found that, with a little tree trimming, we should be able to get in. My uncle said "Sure, trim anything you need to." On the weekend after we finally got our new tires, I put a pole trimmer a
GrampaDennis

GrampaDennis

0
GrampaDennis' Blog
 

Tires

I wrote about our tire purchase in one of the forums a while ago. I'll put a brief version of the story here as well. From reading the Good Sam forums and the FMCA forums, I learned about the Michelin Advantage tire discount program through FMCA. One of the other FMCA members from Maine posted about the savings he got. I sent him a PM and found out which dealer he used. Grandma is a great believer in comparison shopping, so she called around. Sure enough, the best deal to be had on Micheli
GrampaDennis

GrampaDennis

0
GrampaDennis' Blog
 

First Trip

So, we had the "Cottage on Wheels" home, and basically functional, but it still had the original fifteen year old tires. I was looking into tires (a subject for another entry), but we wanted to take a little shakedown cruise. We decided on Meadowbrook campground, in Phippsburg Maine. It is less than 50 miles from our home, can be reached on two-lane roads. I didn't dare take this thing up to 70 MPH on the old tires. Also, Meadowbrook is not far from one of our favorite places in the world, Popha
GrampaDennis

GrampaDennis

0
GrampaDennis' Blog
 

First Scare

In the process of the delivery and our purchase, the seller picked up a new chassis battery and I agreed to split the cost with him. However, he delivered the coach on the old battery. I installed the new battery. I consider myself mechanically proficient, and I have changed batteries on dozens of vehicles over the years. This battery has the GM type side terminals. I thought I had them tight, but I am also concerned about over-torquing things (don't ask me why). I had no electrical proble
GrampaDennis

GrampaDennis

0
GrampaDennis' Blog
 

Purchase

In June of 2013, Grandma and I got serious about our quest for a used motor home. We were shopping somewhat on the low end - under $30K. We browsed our local classified ad magazine (Uncle Henry's), Craigslist, dealers' web sites, and any other sources we found. We looked at 16 coaches in 8 days! Only 3 or 4 of those met our standards at all. We had one near miss where there was a very nice coach for reasonable money, but someone put a deposit on it about an hour before we called. On June 21, we
GrampaDennis

GrampaDennis

0
Roadtreking Blog
 

Why Roadtreking is Better Than Air Travel

I hate flying. In my past life as a journalist, I was frequently in the air, flying here or there for this story or that. I grew to dread air travel. But now that I travel in an RV, I hate flying even more. I write this from Albany, GA, where we are visiting family. It’s a quick visit, to watch the grandsons play football and to attend grandparent’s day at the youngest one’s school. We’re flying on gift tickets, down here just for the weekend and then back to Michigan. This is the first air
Roadtrekingmike

Roadtrekingmike

1
Roadtreking Blog
 

Albuquerque Balloon Launch Draws Class B RV Owners

When blog reader Harry Salt sent me these spectacular photos (see below), I just knew I had to share them. They are from the annual Albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta, now under way in New Mexico. Harry was part of two RV groups that attended – a Class B group and a Roadtrek group. “The festival goes thru Oct 13,” writes Salt. “After Oct 7 some of the group went on a ’walkabout’ for about 30 days. Supposed to have been at National Parks and Monuments but now they are improvising. It wi
Roadtrekingmike

Roadtrekingmike

0
Roadtreking Blog
 

RV Halloween Weekends Draw Big Crowds

The active RV season in the north is on limited time as the cold weather approaches, but before many of the RVs are put to bed or in storage, many RV parks around the country are hosting special Halloween get-togethers and site decorating contests. And the parks are filling up. At the Addison Oaks County park near our Michigan home, where we walk our dog several times a week, the Halloween weekend turns into quite a spectacle, with contests, trick-or-treating and prizes for the best-decorated
Roadtrekingmike

Roadtrekingmike

0
Tom and Louise on Tour in North America
 

Good News - Bad News

As of our last post we had just entered Colorado as the heavy rain and flooding occurred. We stayed for a week and got a first hand look at some of the damage. What we saw in the Denver/Arvada area was minor compared to the real damage which occurred in the mountains and out on the plains as the flood waters continued to disperse. There are towns in the mountains which have no road access to the outside world and likely won't have until sometime next spring or summer. Countless roads washed
tbutler

tbutler

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